Introduction

The year is 1771.

James Cook RN (43), recently returned from an epic world voyage, is promoted by his sovereign, George III, to captain’s rank and instructed to embark on a search for Earth’s last undiscovered landmass, the Great Unknown Southern Continent.

This voyage proves to be one of the longest and most perilous ever undertaken. In command of HMS Resolution and with its consort HMS Adventure, Cook and his crews venture further south than any other previous voyagers, sailing well beyond the Antarctic Circle. Like an 18th-century Ulysses, Cook drives himself and his men onward, traversing the entire South Pacific in both the high and low latitudes, discovering no landmass but re-charting islands formerly found, as well as making discoveries of his own.

Although his second three-year world circumnavigation represents a personal triumph for Cook, his prolonged absence from his wife Elizabeth and their surviving children is marked by domestic tragedy and heartbreak. For Elizabeth Cook, James’s success at sea counts for nothing when tragic losses occur at home.

James Cook’s New World continues in fictional form the story of the great explorer’s triumphs and disappointments as this dutiful, driven man puts into place the last pieces of Earth’s great jigsaw puzzle. It also continues to portray the relationship of James and Elizabeth, mainly through the intimate journal he writes for her during his protracted voyage.

As James frequently wonders: where does duty to King and Country end, and loyalty to wife and family begin?